How Does Nick Carraway's Shadow In The Great Gatsby

Standing in another’s shadow can occasionally lead to feelings of jealousy. In the case of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick Carraway has no problem with this idea of being the ‘sidekick.’ This is because of how much he admires Gatsby. Nick is a smart, educated man from a fairly wealthy family in Minnesota, but he doesn’t spend the book bragging about himself. He instead spends the majority of the novel raving about his good friend, Jay Gatsby. Nick manages to be involved with all of the novel’s major events (since the story is told through his eyes), yet somehow always be in the background. He shows his role as Gatsby’s sidekick when he sets him up with Daisy, goes on social outings with Gatsby, and at Gatsby’s funeral.

When he learns from Jordan that Gatsby likes his cousin Daisy he agrees to invite Daisy over so that Gatsby can reunite with her. Not knowing much about Gatsby, except snippets of details from Jordan and a few encounters with him, Nick seems to like him. He agrees to arrange for Daisy and Gatsby to meet, because Jordan tells him he is “just supposed to invite her for tea” (p. 85). Something about being told what he is “supposed to” do ignites the sidekick in Nick and begins his time helping Gatsby. Fitzgerald highlights Nick’s fondness of Gatsby to connect he and Daisy. The fact that Nick sets the two up so easily demonstrates his purpose in the novel as Gatsby’s sidekick and bridge to